Theodor Kocher

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Theodor Kocher, before 1910

Emil Theodor Kocher (born August 25, 1841 in Bern ; † July 27, 1917 there ) was a Swiss surgeon . Kocher was one of the pioneers of modern ( physiological ) surgery. In 1909 he was the first surgeon (of three) to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his experimental research on thyroid surgery and physiology .

Life

Kocher's (family) grave in the Bremgarten cemetery, Bern

Theodor Kocher, son of Jakob Alexander Kocher (chief engineer of the canton of Bern ), graduated from high school in Burgdorf and studied medicine at the University of Bern , where he graduated in 1865 with the state examination and in 1866 with a doctorate . During his student days he joined the Swiss Zofingerverein . During a guest semester at the University of Zurich , he met the surgeon Theodor Billroth , who became his teacher. On a study trip to Berlin, London and Paris in 1865/66, he met his role models Rudolf Virchow , Bernhard von Langenbeck and Thomas Spencer Wells (1818-1897). Back in Bern, Kocher completed his habilitation in surgery in 1866 and worked as an assistant to Albert Lücke . In 1869 he opened his own practice. A new method of lowering the shoulders brought Kocher international fame. In 1872 he was appointed full professor of surgery in Bern as successor to Luecke . He remained loyal to this office until the end of his life, although there were several attempts to appoint him to other clinics. The new construction of the Inselspital in Bern is largely due to Theodor Kocher.

Kocher was the first president of the Swiss Society for Surgery. He was friends with William Halsted and Harvey Cushing , which made him influential in American surgery.

Theodor Kocher was with Maria, geb. Witschi, married. The couple had three sons, the eldest of whom, Albert, assisted his father in his work as an assistant professor of surgery and became another internist. Theodor Kocher was buried in the Bremgarten cemetery in Bern, not far from the Inselspital. His estate is in the Bern Burger Library .

The Argentine surgeon Enrique Finochietto (1881-1948) was a student of Theodor Kocher.

plant

Kocher during an operation in the presence of North and South American doctors (around 1900)

Theodor Kocher began his scientific work with a series of articles on hemostasis in twisting arteries . When he began his surgical career, a change was just taking place between the traditional septic and the new antiseptic treatment methods, which Kocher made his main task. He developed a number of wound treatment methods with light chlorine solutions and other methods. He later developed the first aseptic wound care. Through his work as a trainer for military doctors, Kocher also gained insight into the treatment of gunshot wounds and made this a further focus of his work. Kocher also worked on broken bones and osteomyelitis .

In addition to treating wounds and hernias, surgery on internal organs was an essential part of his work, such as surgery for stomach and intestinal diseases . The Kocher maneuver, with which the duodenum can be detached from adhesions, is named after him. He also developed a number of surgical instruments , not least the Kocher clamp named after him , which is still used today.

Later goals of his work were the brain (especially epilepsy ), the male sexual organs and finally also the thyroid , on the physiology and pathology of which he presented entirely new, controversially discussed hypotheses and results. His thyroid research brought Kocher the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ("for his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid"). He performed the first strumectomy as early as 1876 . Kocher and the surgeon Reverdin drew attention in 1882 to the fact that after a complete removal of the enlarged thyroid gland, serious illnesses, called myxedema , can occur.

The illustrator of his work "Operationslehre" was the Bernese painter Robert Kiener .

Honors

Bust of Theodor Kocher (created by Karl Hänny )

Kocher became an honorary member of numerous surgical specialist societies.

The city of Bern honored the Nobel Prize winner in various ways. Shortly after his death, Inselgasse was renamed Kochergasse . In 1927, Cuno Amiet was commissioned to design the auditorium in the Kirchenfeld grammar school with five large Berners . The top picture shows Theodor Kocher. In 1941, Kocher's son Albert Kocher bequeathed to the public an area on Belpstrasse in Bern with the stipulation that a park be created from it. This cooker park was opened on September 19, 1944. In it stands the bust of the namesake created by the sculptor Max Fueter . Another bust, created by Karl Hänny and inaugurated in 1927, stands at the main entrance of the Inselspital.

In the city of Biel , too , a street near the train station was named after Kocher.

literature

Web links

Commons : Theodor Kocher  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrich Tröhler: The interaction of anatomy, physiology and surgery in the work of Theodor Kocher and some contemporaries. In: Urs Boschung (Ed.): Theodor Kocher. Bern / Stuttgart / Toronto 1991, pp. 53-71.
  2. ^ Theodor Kocher: Speeches held in the Heiliggeistkirche in Bern. Tuesday afternoon July 31, 1917 . A. Francke Verlag , Bern 1917, p. 7.
  3. ↑ Urs Boschung: Theodor Kocher. In: Wolfgang U. Eckart , Christoph Gradmann (Hrsg.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the present. 3. Edition. Springer, Heidelberg / Berlin / New York 2006, p. 195. doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
  4. ↑ Christoph Weißer: Review of: Hubert Steinke , Eberhard Wolff, Ralph Alexander Schmid (eds.): Cuts, knots and networks. 100 years of the Swiss Society for Surgery. Chronos, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-0340-1167-9 . In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 34, 2015 (2016), pp. 313-316, here: p. 314.
  5. ↑ Bernese families: Emil Theodor Kocher .
  6. ^ Theodor Kocher's estate in the Bern Burger Library catalog
  7. ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica online (accessed February 9, 2008)
  8. ^ Otto Westphal , Theodor Wieland , Heinrich Huebschmann: life regulator. Of hormones, vitamins, ferments and other active ingredients. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1941 (= Frankfurter Bücher. Research and Life. Volume 1), p. 22.
  9. ↑ Berchtold Weber: Historisch-topographisches Lexikon der Stadt Bern-Kochergasse , 1976, accessed on September 6, 2010
  10. ↑ Website of the Kirchfeld grammar school with illustrations and explanations of the murals  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 3, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.kinet.ch  
personal data
SURNAME Kocher, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kocher, Emil Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss surgeon and Nobel Prize winner
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1917
Place of death Bern